| Purpose | Understand how the Rate Checker compares your direct Booking Engine price with rates from connected channels. |
| Best for | Property Managers, General Managers, Admins, and Owners |
| Use this when | You want to understand which rates appear in the Rate Checker or why its Direct Rate may differ from the price shown on a room card or a connected channel. |
| Requirements | An eligible Cloudbeds Booking Engine package and Base Rates mapped to at least three supported channels. |
| Expected result | You can identify how the Direct Rate and channel rates are determined and correctly interpret differences between the Rate Checker and Booking Engine room prices. |
| Limitations | Hotelbeds and Airbnb iCal rates are not displayed. Rate Checker prices may not include taxes, fees, additional guest pricing, or discounts applied directly by a channel. |
Introduction
The Rate Checker works with the Cloudbeds Booking Engine to help guests compare the price of booking directly with rates available through supported connected channels.
The Direct Rate and channel rates do not necessarily come from the same rate source. Understanding this difference is important when comparing the Rate Checker with the Booking Engine room card or with prices displayed on a channel.
Table of contents
- Rate Checker overview
- How Direct and channel rates are determined
- Multi-night searches and Display Price
- Important considerations
Rate Checker overview
The Rate Checker displays a property's direct Booking Engine price alongside prices received for the same accommodation from supported channels connected through Cloudbeds.
The Rate Checker is included with all Cloudbeds Booking Engine packages except Legacy plans. For eligible properties, it is automatically enabled when Base Rates are mapped to three or more supported channels. There is no self-service Rate Checker toggle.
Only supported channels connected to your Cloudbeds account can appear in the comparison.
How Direct and channel rates are determined
The Rate Checker uses different sources for the Direct Rate and channel prices. Because of this, the values can differ even when the feature is working as expected.
| Rate | How it is determined | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| Direct Rate | The lowest total price for the stay among the bookable rate plans available to the guest for that accommodation and search. | The Direct Rate can come from the Base Rate, a derived rate plan, or another bookable rate plan. It is not limited to the Base Rate. |
| Channel rate | The price sent to that channel through the Cloudbeds Channel Manager. By default, this is generally based on the Base Rate plus any applicable channel adjustment. | A channel price can be higher than the Direct Rate when the cheapest rate plan available on the Booking Engine is different from the rate being distributed to the channel. |
A lower Direct Rate than an OTA rate does not necessarily indicate a pricing issue. The Direct Rate may be using a different bookable rate plan from the rate distributed to that channel.
Multi-night searches and Display Price
The Rate Checker displays the total price for the searched stay. It does not change its calculation based on the Booking Engine's Display Price setting.
This means the room card and Rate Checker can show different-looking values during a multi-night search. For example, a room card may show the lowest nightly price, while the Direct Rate shows the total for all nights in the search.
In the example below, the room card shows a Price from value of USD 95.00 for the Cozy Campers rate plan. For the two-night stay, the Rate Checker Direct Rate and reservation subtotal are both USD 190.00. The connected channel rate is displayed separately.
Important considerations
Keep the following behavior in mind when reviewing Rate Checker prices:
- Only supported channels connected to the property can appear in the Rate Checker.
- Hotelbeds and Airbnb iCal rates are not displayed.
- The Direct Rate is based on the cheapest bookable rate plan total for the stay, not only the Base Rate.
- Channel rates reflect the price received from the Cloudbeds Channel Manager for that channel.
- Taxes, fees, additional guest pricing, and discounts applied directly by a channel may not be represented in the comparison.
Need help with the Rate Checker? If a Direct Rate or channel price does not match the expected behavior described above, gather the accommodation, search dates, currency, Direct Rate, channel rate, and the price shown on the channel before contacting the Cloudbeds Support Team.
Related articles
Now that you understand how the Rate Checker determines and displays prices, review the following resource for broader information about configuring and using the direct booking experience:
Comments
How do you remove the rate checker, please?
Hello, jack!
Thank you so much for reaching out!
Please contact our Support Team for this particular request, so they can review it, and offer dedicated assistance.
Kind regards,
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